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Memories

I was e-mailing back and forth with a long-time family friend yesterday. What began as a response to a Facebook posting of mine turned into some reminiscing for both of us. The topic of her mother, the late Patsy Rockwood, came up and that brought us both to tears. She reiterated how much her mom thought of me and that she would be proud of what I’ve done with my life. I made the mistake of reading her message during some downtime of yesterday’s football game. As I began reading, I felt my eyes get water, so I quickly exited out of the message. Knowing what to expect, I opened it back up later. I smiled at what she wrote and memories of her Mom started flashing through my mind. I loved her mother like my own-she just had this sweet way about her and we formed a bond. When I was little, my Mom would take me to church with her. On the way back from communion, I would spot “Pappa” as I called her, and would sit with her for the rest of mass. She would stretch out her arm and engulf me in a hug. Though her name was Patsy, I was too little to use her first name. So she was, and will always be, Pappa to me. We lost her too soon to cancer years ago but she will always be with me.

While doing errands today, I was listening to some music via my iPod. The song “God Gave Me You” by Blake Shelton came on and for some reason, I started thinking about Pappa again. It didn’t take long before the tears started flowing. I laughed, saying to myself “hmm, maybe I won’t go to the store just yet.” So I just kept driving. I finally pulled over and let the tears come. After composing myself, I looked toward the sky and said, “Oh Pappa, I hope you know how much I loved you….just show me that you know that.” On my way back to the store, I’m driving down a side street. I look up briefly to see a street sign on the right and smile: Rockwood Dr. I turned around and pulled over by the entrance. I grabbed my phone and took a picture of the sign. As corny as it sounds, I couldn’t help but look up to sky and grin.